Chapter 37: Impressive Skill
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
After some discussion, both Mo Wen and Shao Jianyang agreed to increase the difficulty of their competition. A moving target was hardly an obstacle for the both of them.
In the end, the moving targets were replaced with clay pigeons. Clay pigeons were fired continuously from the clay pigeon traps twenty meters away. The student who hit the most would be declared the winner.
After setting up, Mo Wen and Shao Jianyang started another round of competition. Both of them had one minute each. Whoever could hit the most within a minute would win.
Shao Jianyang lifted his eyebrow and asked while sneering, “Mo Wen, do you dare bet with me?” Mo Wen gave Shao Jianyang a side glance, “Oh? What are we betting?” Shao Jianyang spoke grimly, as if confirming his win, “The loser will crawl between the legs of the winner and bark like a dog three times.”
Mo Wen asked with a strange expression, “Are you serious?”
“Why? Are you scared?”, Shao Jianyang sneered.
“Alright.”, Mo Wen smiled. Since Shao Jianyang was digging his own grave, it was hard for Mo Wen to not do him the favor of agreeing.
The competition started and the first challenger was Shao Jianyang. He took a few steps forward and gave Mo Wen a cold stare. His lips curved to form a confident smile.
The referee moved forward and said, “The clay pigeon traps are ready to fire. The countdown begins.” Then he pressed the countdown button. At the same time, the five clay pigeon traps, placed twenty meters away, started to fire. They fired every five seconds; sending five clay pigeons flying each time.
Shao Jianyang turned tense instantaneously; his gaze fixed on the sky a hundred meters away. He had changed his weapon to a rifle. The shooting speed of a pistol couldn’t be compared with that of a rifle. It was hard to hit five clay pigeons at once using a pistol.
However, recoil and accuracy required of the rifle was high, much greater than that of a pistol. Thus, the difficulty was increased by quite a large margin. Even Shao Jianyang had no confidence in his ability to hit all five clay pigeons in such a short time. It would be good to be able to hit at least two.
The moment the clay pigeon shot out, Shao Jianyang fired. The fast moving clay pigeon exploded in the air, one after another. He had very few misses.
A glint of lament flashed in Zhou Zhen’s eyes as he shook his head regrettably, “Shao Jianyang is a skilled marksman. With his shooting standard, I doubt any normal soldier in the whole 19th Army Corp could compete with him.” The battalion he led was a Special Force Battalion, but it seemed possible that no one in the whole battalion had shooting skills on par with Shao Jianyang.
Although the Special Force Battalion had plenty of expertise, that was in comparison to normal civilian skills. Zhou Zhen had been enlisted as a Lieutenant Colonel at a young age, so he naturally knew a lot of things that normal people didn’t. There were certain individuals whose level far exceeded the common talents of ordinary people.
He wasn’t implying that there were no talented people in the army. In fact, there were many mysterious troops in the army; people with terrifying combat ability. But even field officers like Zhou Zhen hardly came into contact with those troops, let alone normal soldiers.
Zhang Lizheng’s gaze remained fixed on the distant shooting range. He had a high opinion of Mo Wen since seeing Mo Wen being able to take down his moving targets with unfailing accuracy. After witnessing Mo Wen’s skills firsthand, Zhang Lizheng realized that he had still underestimated him.
A minute wasn’t long. But at this moment on the parade ground, it felt like an eternity.
Everyone’s eyes were on Shao Jianyang, waiting to know what kind of result he would get in the end.
Clay pigeons continued exploding in the sky. For a normal student, the scene in front of them was absolutely incredible. What was usually in the realm of movies seemed to be happening right before their very eyes.
Furthermore, there were two ace students appearing at the same time, so everyone was eager to find out who would get the last laugh.
Right now, only the 1st Battalion and 2nd Battalions were cheering. The students of the 3rd and 4th Battalions had forgotten to cheer for their own members. They were completely captivated by the exhilarating scene playing out before their very eyes. Before this spectacular showdown, the tension between battalions seemed to have diminished.
Everyone focused all their attention on Mo Wen and Shao Jianyang. The whole parade ground was silent; only nervous panting and breathing could be heard.
Pinpricks of sweat started to appear on Shao Jianyang’s forehead. As time progressed, his accuracy decreased. His highly focused mental state started to show weariness and his hit rate gradually decreased too.
After a minute, the clay pigeon traps, which had been firing continuously, suddenly stopped. Shao Jianyang fired his last shot but missed.
He took a deep breath, lowered his rifle, and then calmly walked off the shooting range. Even though he wasn’t completely satisfied with his result, he had still unleashed his full potential. He didn’t believe that Mo Wen could defeat him.
“Shao Jianyang, 31 clay pigeons hit. Next up is Mo Wen.”, the judge started announcing Shao Jinyang’s results and called for the next round of shooting.
Shao Jianyang’s lips curled into a relaxed smile. 31 clay pigeons was within acceptable range, and at least his accuracy was more than fifty percent.
The clay pigeon traps fired every five seconds. Every time five clay pigeons were being fired, so 60 clay pigeons were fired in a minute.
He hit 31 clay pigeons out of 60. It was already an impressive score.
As soon as Shao Jianyang’s score was announced, a surprised gasp could be heard on the parade ground. The clay pigeons were so densely distributed and flying at such high speeds that it was absolutely incredible to be able to hit half of them. If they hadn’t witnessed it with their own eyes, then they wouldn’t have believed it if they heard such a claim.
Mo Wen licked his lips and walked towards the shooting range. Quietly he loaded his rifle and checked it; his expression turned serious.
Clay pigeon shooting was quite a challenge for him too. If his cultivation level was as before, then this would be a piece of cake. But now both his stamina and Inner Qi were far below the levels compared to that of his other life.
Observational skill, eyesight, intuition, shooting speed, reflexes, proprioception, and other senses were all were far from what they were before. Mo Wen did not feel confident in being able to hit all clay pigeons.
But to deal with a trifle like Shao Jianyang?
Mo Wen’s lips curved into a disparaging smile. No matter how much he had regressed in power, he was once the Miracle Physician, the top master in the martial arts circle. A callow lad was incomparable to him.
“The second round. Start.”, the judge blew his whistle and waved the flag.
Almost instantaneously, the clay pigeon traps started firing again. It was still five clay pigeons at once with an interval of five seconds in between firing.
Mo Wen’s pupils dilated. He balanced the rifle against his shoulder and shot the bullets out from the barrel like tongues of fire.
Red flowers bloomed in the sky far away. Red smoke clouds appeared one after another.
The brilliant sky attracted everyone’s attention. His performance was far more interesting than Shao Jianyang’s; he did not seem to miss a single clay pigeon.
“How is that possible?!”, shouted Shao Jianyang as he shot up from his seat. He started unbelievably at the sky above the shooting range; his face utterly pale. He kept on shaking his head, “Impossible, absolutely impossible. There has to be a mistake somewhere.” Clearly Shao Jianyang was unable to accept the scene in front of him.
There was no mistake. Up till this moment, Mo Wen had not made a single mistake. It was unbelievable. With his marksmanship, he was only able to hit 31. How was Mo Wen able to hit them all! A trick, it must be a trick!
Qin Xiaoyou clenched her delicate hands tightly, looking anxiously at the shooting range; her expression was both excited and nervous and yelled “Good. Good job!”
Even Zhou Zhen stood up at the Fourth battalion area; his eyes sparkled with excitement.
At this moment anyone could tell that if Mo Wen persisted, he would surely win against Shao Jianyang.
Zhang Lizheng stared somewhat blankly at the distant sky. For a person to have such incredible marksmanship, it was as though it was a plot taken from a movie.
All five hundred students from the 4th Battalion sounded off a cheer louder than ever before. The exploding red smoke clouds in the sky looked as festive as fireworks.
After a minute, Mo Wen slowly lowered the semi-automatic rifle. He exhaled deeply, but his eyes were sparkling and he was in high spirits.
From afar, the judge’s announcement could be heard, “Mo Wen, 60 pigeons hit, 100 percent success rate.” Disbelief was audible in his voice.
Never before was there a person with such formidable marksmanship. It was as though wherever he pointed would follow with a perfect trajectory with no misfires.
A girl with short hair sitting next to Qin Xiaoyou grabbed hold of Qin Xiaoyou’s hand, her eyes sparkling as she asked, “Xiaoyou, do you really have no relationship with that Mo Wen? If that’s so, can I make a move?”
Qin Xiaoyou flung her hand away, giving her a look of utter contempt, “Fangirl.”
The short hair girl clenched her fist tightly, “Tsk, surely you aren’t jealous? You’re still insisting that you and him are just ordinary friends. If you keep saying that, then I won’t be polite. Mo Wen is just too cool! All men should be like that.”
She was like a she-wolf ready to pounce on an innocent lamb.
Qin Xiaoyou glanced at Wang Xiaofei from top to bottom; she perked her lips contemptuously, “Xiaofei, you also don’t know whether he will like an iron lady like you.”
“What? How dare you call me iron lady? Are you looking for an early death? I will beat you up.”, as Wang Xiaofei pounced on Qin Xiaoyou…